Didn't W.C. Fields once say, "During Prohibition, I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and IC Light?"

Foodball: Chicken Fried Bacon

Chicken Fried Bacon – Two Ways

You can either make this recipe with slab bacon you slice yourself or regular thick cut bacon. Both have their merits. Fried slab bacon gives you a much more meaty bite, more bacon taste. Regular bacon is easier to find and is easier to dip in your sausage gravy and raspberry preserves. Why the raspberry preserves? The sweetness cuts through the fat nicely, sort of like you were having a Monte Cristo, possibly the only snack less healthy than this one.

This drink was inspired by my buddy Josh in Albuquerque who one day last year talked about having a really good chile mocha on a cold morning. Of course you could booze that baby up for tailgating. Of course you want to. The heat from the chile reaches down into your bones while the cinnamon makes the chocolate feel fuller, warmer. The Kahlua brings an extra richness to the espresso while the tequila takes you full circle, bringing you right back to the chile and the cinnamo

Roasted Mezcal Bloody Marys

Roasted Mezcal Bloody Marys

2013 Foodball Kickoff: Roasted Mezcal Bloody Marys

As I said last season when I wrote about Pizza Bloody Marys, there isn’t a better cocktail for tailgating or for morning brunch football on the west coast than a bloody mary. Still a little hungover from Saturday night? Need just a few vegetables to jump-start your metabolism with a touch of salt to balance out your dehydrated body and some booze to soothe your headache? Want to have enough energy to make it through the first game of the day? The bloody mary mini-meal in a glass is the perfect solution to all of your problems.

This bloody recipe calls for a smoky mezcal, rich and earthy as any scotch you will find. When paired with roasted tomatillos, meaty heirloom tomatoes, the heat of poblano peppers and the brightness of cilantro and lime, you get a refreshing, bracing bloody mary to jumpstart your day. Want a little extra heat and extra smoke? Add a chipotle pepper in adobe sauce to the blend, but honestly, I think the milder version pairs better with the mezcal. Poblanos have enough heat on their own to stand up to alcohol and tomatoes.

Quesdo Fundido: SUPER BOWL RECIPE MONTH: DIP SPECTACULAR!

Queso Fundido

If possible, try to use Mexican quesadilla cheese with this dip. It melts without becoming stringy and greasy, unlike many other cheeses. Queso fundido goes especially well with warm soft tortillas.

Giant Cherry Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

During the regular season, I rarely make desserts or sweets for football. Even after nearly ten hours of games, it never seems like dessert time out here in Pacific Time. But during the Super Bowl when you have a few hours extra of just hanging around and socializing, you’re going to want a dessert.

By using dried cherries which typically are very tart in this recipe helps cut through the sweetness of the dough and the chocolate chips. You can use either light brown sugar or dark brown sugar depending on how rich you like your cookies. Feel free to reduce the amount of chocolate chips because I used a heavy-hand with the chocolate when developing this recipe since people tend to like more chocolate than less chocolate, but not everyone likes a lot of chocolate in their cookies. (Weirdos and Seahawks fans would be my guess.)

Tart Cranberry Deviled Eggs: Football Foodie Holiday Snacks at KSK

I can’t put my finger on the exact date, but sometime during the Great Craft Cocktails and Brown Liquor Resurgence of the past five or six — maybe even seven, we’ve all been drinking so much it’s difficult to remember — years hard-boiled eggs and deviled eggs made a comeback, especially at bars that served craft cocktails and brown liquor. Not deviled eggs like your grandmother serves at Easter under a layer of paprika, but rather wasabi deviled goose eggs, Sriracha-blue cheese deviled eggs, truffle and chive deviled eggs, and petite smoked salmon deviled quail eggs.

Pizza Bloody Mary: Football Foodie Brunch

We’ve reached that awful point of the NFL season where there is an incredible imbalance on the Sunday schedule, a bunch of early games and then only two or three games with a 4 ET/1 PT kickoffs. This inequity drags on until after Thanksgiving, giving us plenty of weeks like this week where we only get Jets-Pats and Jaguars-Raiders with the late start, which means you need to be ready for brunch drinking to handle the massive onslaught of early games. (And by onslaught, I mean the Texans-Ravens matchup gets my vote for Sunday morning, but I wouldn’t object to watching Washington-Giants or Browns-Colts.)

Earlier this season I had a chance to talk with Holly Anderson over at SI’s Campus Union about tailgating and she asked what were my favorite football snack and drink to have during a game. My answer was that they’re the same thing, a Bloody Mary. I’ve written many times about how I love watching football on the West Coast because you wake up and it’s game time and brunch time, which makes the Bloody Mary a perfect match for the early games. It’s restorative and energizing, the perfect mix of booze and savory juice to perk you up. Add a large enough garnish and you’ve pretty much got a meal in a glass. What could make your liquid meal even better? Have it be inspired by one of the greatest football snacks of all time, pizza.

A good, hearty breakfast sandwich serves two purposes, it gives you a good base of carbs and protein to start your day of yelling and screaming and it also helps eliminate any hangover you might have from either Friday or Saturday night to make sure you can actually spend a day yelling and screaming.

Creamy eggs, chewy English muffins, the mellow heat from the hatch chiles cooled by the creamy avocado, the hint of salty bacon and cheese with fresh spinach, these sandwiches are easily made for morning games at home or if you like, you can make the egg patties the night before and reheat in the morning in the oven or the microwave. And while I’ve never tried it, Dan over at The Sporkful told me he makes his egg patties the night before and heats them up on the grill for bagel sandwiches at Giants tailgates, so I’m sure his method works fine.

Breakfast Puff Pastry Braid with Eggs, Sausage and Cheese

Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day are the last two big NFL brunch days here on the West Coast. Throw in a few random early bowl games on January 2 plus the extra relatives you’ve got hanging around the next couple of weeks and you’re going to need an fast and easy — not to mention hangover approved — breakfast.

Bacon Cheddar Doughnut Holes

So when I had the Bacon Cheese Doughnut Holes at The Den at happy hour, I knew this could be a football brunch treat for all the times I didn’t feel like making something beforehand. From the time you cook the bacon to the time you serve the doughnuts, you’re looking at only about 30 minutes in the kitchen, tops.

Grilled Fruit Kabobs

Quick intro because, well, mostly because it’s Saturday and on the weekends we should all try to take as much as of a break from information age as possible, and secondly because I’m working on getting the rest of the week’s posts ready ASAP so I can give everyone a comprehensive Super Bowl planning guide on Monday or Tuesday.

Also, we all need to save all of our energy for tomorrow’s ProBowl and NHL All-Star Game. Back-to-back games like that are sure to be exhausting.

Brunch Bread Bowls with Egg, Ham and Cheese

Long time Friday Football Foodie readers know that as a West Coaster, where football starts prompt at 9am on Saturdays and 10am on Sundays, I absolutely love the Football Brunch. You get to miss the three to four hours of meaningless pregame analysis, you can start drinking earlier if you want, and you are approximately 87% less likely to see Frank Caliendo doing his Madden impression. All wins.

Phillips Head Screwdrivers

Okay, so it is just a screwdriver. But if you make it with pineapple vodka, call it phillips head screwdriver. Still much tastier than plain old vodka and OJ.

Cherry-Streusel Coffee Cake

Long time Friday Football Foodie readers know that I love the football brunch. NFL games start at 10 am! College games at 9 am! Premier League starts at… Eff it! You’re probably still drunk from the night before for a 5:45 am start. And full of In-N-Out! Or House of Pies! Or Fred 62! Or Cafe 101! Or Del Taco! Better yet, let’s go to a taco truck! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

So like any good brunch, pre-game planning is the key. In the past I’ve made Friday Football Foodie quiches, stratas, baked French toast and pear tarts. What do they have in common with Breakfast Enchiladas and Cherry-Streusel Coffee Cake? You have to make them the night before. Sunday morning before a 10 am game, you want to wake up at 9 am at the earliest. Maybe 9:30 if you need a shower. 9:50 if you still need to make fantasy football moves. 8 am? Forget it. Did I not mention the 2 am taco truck visit? The cake can be baked the night before, and the enchiladas need to rest before baking morning of the game.

Artichoke, Olives, and Capers Crostini

It is incredibly important to have a sound base. A solid running game (THAT CAN PICK UP TWO YARDS ON THIRD DOWN MISTER-BRUCE-THROW-TO-THE-END-ZONE-ARIANS), some money stashed away in savings just in case you quit your day job, and bread that has been properly toasted.

Ham & Cheese Muffins

It’s hard to believe, but this is the last weekend that you can have a NFL brunch this season. Next weekend, even if you live on the West Coast, 12pm is too late for brunch. You’ll need something heavier, greasier, and… Well. Lunch-ier.

Maple Bacon Biscuits

I love the Sunday football brunch and I am sad to see it leave us until next September. Name another sport that allows you to wake up and start drinking and eating at 10AM? (Premiere League does not count, because who the heck is going to wake up and cook at 4am for a 6am game. Exactly. Footie is for going out and drinking at 6am and letting someone else put beans on toast and spots on dicks.)

Pear Tart

I actually served it with a savory bacon, cheese, and caramelized onion tart. You can find the recipe for that – and the same step-by-step directions I usually provide – here at The Amateur Gourmet.

Breakfast Strata

Really, you can used whatever you want for the filling. Cooked sausage, bacon, just cheese and veggies (as long as they are not watery), you name it. You can also make this sweet strata by using cream cheese and raisins or other dried fruits. It is a good, “whatever the hell we have on hand” type of dish.

Overnight French Toast

Part of the beauty of this dish is all the work – what little work there is – is done the evening before brunch, leaving you to sleep in until past 9am on game day for a change. (And I bet Paula Deen would cry less than Leinart over sharing the creation of this breakfast.)

Bloody Mary

Oh sure, you can just buy some Bloody Mary mix at the store, stick a stalk a celery in it and call it day, much like the Bucs field a team, hand it a ball, and call it “football”. You are better than that, and yes, I am talking right to you Gruden.

Four Cheese and Roasted Red Pepper Quiche

One of the greatest thing about living on the West Coast is the football brunch. Wake up, walk out to couch, turn on TV, football is there.

West Coast Football Brunch

One of the greatest thing about living on the West Coast is the football brunch. Wake up, walk out to couch, turn on TV, football is there.